scholarly journals Quantification of diabetic macular ischemia: Assessing agreement and reproducibility between Optical coherence tomography angiography and Fluorescein angiography

Author(s):  
Jeniffer Trenado ◽  
Sergio Rojas juárez

Introduction: The purpose was to assess the level of agreement and reproducibility between fluorescein angiography (FA) and optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA), throughout the evaluation of the foveal avascular zone (FAZ) to diagnose diabetic macular ischemia (DMI). Methods: In this ambispective, observational, cross-sectional research, 41 patients underwent traditional FA and OCTA to obtain the level of agreement and reproducibility between them, using an intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) in mixed models. Two raters independently graded the area of the FAZ using the ImageJ software and the Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study protocols. Spearman and rank-biserial correlational analysis were used to calculate the strength of linear relationship between the area of the retinal vessels, the thickness of subfoveal retinal and choroid layers, the presence of neovascularization, and the visual acuity. A classification, based on the radius of the FAZ, was proposed and used to categorize the severity of DMI into five different grades. Result: From 52 evaluated eyes, the level of agreement between the OCTA and FA among the raters had an ICC of 0.99 and 0.907 (p<.001), respectively. Furthermore, the reproducibility analysis had an ICC of 0.85 (p<.001). In the correlation analysis, the enlargement of the FAZ was associated with a decrease in the outer retinal layers (r=-0.458, p<0.001), the photoreceptor layer (r=-0.32, p=0.021), their outer segments (r=-0.32, p=0.021) and the subfoveal choroidal thickness (r=-0.483, p<0.001). A reduction of the vascular area was observed in higher grades of diabetic retinopathy (r= -0.395, p=0.38). Additionally, meager choroidal thickness was found in grater grades of DMI (r=-0.461, p=0.014). Conclusion: Compelling evidence of a high level of agreement and reproducibility between OCTA and FA was obtained to diagnose diabetic macular ischemia. Moreover, it is suggested that the increase in macular ischemia leads to the thinning of the photoreceptor, outer retinal and choroid layers.

Diabetic retinopathy is an important public health issue as its prevalence has been increasing every year. It is one of the major causes of visual loss which can be preventable with early diagnosis and appropriate treatment. The fundus examination must be done in detail using mydriatics, and digital images must be recorded in all diabetic patients with special emphasis on the disease type (type I and type II), duration, and prognosis. Fluorescein angiography (FA) is a gold standard invasive retinal imaging technique for the diagnosis, monitoring, and evaluating the response of the treatment in diabetic patients, but FA has limitations due to possible side effects. Optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) is a recent, non-invasive, dye-free imaging technique that can be used in every visit. It has the capability to image all retinal and choroidal vascular layers (segmentation) and quantify macular ischemia in a short period of time which is beneficial for the patient, and the ophthalmologist. The aim of this review is to address the findings, advantages, and disadvantages of FA and OCTA in patients with diabetic retinopathy and diabetic macular edema.


2022 ◽  
Vol 2022 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Ruoyu Chen ◽  
Anyi Liang ◽  
Jie Yao ◽  
Zicheng Wang ◽  
Yesheng Chen ◽  
...  

Background and Objective. To correlate optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) characteristics of diabetic microaneurysms (MAs) with leakage status on fluorescein angiography (FA). Patients and Methods. 167 MAs from 39 diabetic eyes were analyzed using OCTA and FA simultaneously. The characteristics of MAs on OCTA en face, OCT en face, and OCT B-scan with flow overlay were evaluated and correlated with fluorescein leakage status. Results. Thirty-six, fifty-two, and seventy-nine MAs showed no, mild, and severe leakage on FA, respectively. Most MAs (61.7%) were centered in the inner nuclear layer. Cystoid spaces were observed adjacent to 60 (35.9%) MAs. MAs with severe leakage had a statistically higher flow proportion compared to MAs with no or mild leakage (both P < 0.001 ). Only 112 MAs (67.1%) were visualized in the OCTA en face images, while 165 MAs (98.8%) could be visualized in the OCT en face images. The location of MAs did not associate significantly with FA leakage status. The presence of nearby cystoid spaces and higher flow proportion by OCT B-scan with flow overlay correlated significantly with FA leakage status. Conclusion. The flow proportion of MAs observed on OCT B-scans with flow overlay might be a potential biomarker to identify leaking MAs. A combination of OCT B-scan, OCT en face, and OCTA en face images increased the detection rate of diabetic MAs in a noninvasive way.


2019 ◽  
Vol 243 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Enders ◽  
Franziska Baeuerle ◽  
Gabriele E. Lang ◽  
Jens Dreyhaupt ◽  
Gerhard K. Lang ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 37 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Qian Ren ◽  
Hua Yu ◽  
Zhaohui Sun ◽  
Li Li

Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the changes in choroidal thickness at different parts in patients with stage IV-V diabetic retinopathy (DR) treated by Panretinal Photocoagulation (PRP) or its combination with anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) therapy using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA). Methods: Patients with proliferative DR (stage IV-V) diagnosed in Shijiazhuang People’s Hospital between January 2016 to January 2020 were selected and treated with conventional PRP or combined with anti-VEGF therapy. OCTA was performed before treatment and one three and six months after treatment to observe and compare subfoveal choroidal thickness (SFCT), perifoveal choroidal thickness at 500 um (M500) and 1500 um (M1500). Results: A total of 76 patients (133 eyes) were included. Six months later, re-examination showed effective treatment in 122 eyes (91.72%) and ineffective treatment in 11 eyes. Before treatment and one week, three months and six months after treatment, the choroidal thickness was observed and compared by OCTA. SFCT, M500 and M1500 increased one week after treatment, were significantly thinner 3 months after treatment than those before treatment, and further decreased six months after treatment. Conclusion: OCTA presents a good evaluation of perifoveal choroidal thickness in patients with proliferative DR. It provides a basis for treatment selection and efficacy determination of proliferative DR. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.37.7.4357 How to cite this:Ren Q, Yu H, Sun Z, Li L. Analysis of choroidal thickness in patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy by optical coherence tomography angiography. Pak J Med Sci. 2021;37(7):---------. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.37.7.4357 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document